Monday, April 23, 2012

Chapter Forty-Seven



Closing the door behind her Stephanie leaned heavily against it and blew out a breath.  The guys were at the bar having a drink and she had escaped up to her room.  She pushed away from the door and turned on a low light.  She needed few minutes to herself right now.   They probably wanted to talk about her anyway and couldn’t if she had been sitting right there with them.

She shrugged and wandered to the bar where her bottle of wine still sat.  Let them talk. The only opinion she cared about was Richie’s and he already liked her.  Filling a glass she padded into the bedroom.  He didn’t say it in so many words, but she knew he’d come knocking on her door sooner or later.  

She picked up her pajamas and headed to the bathroom.  She was starting to feel the effects of a long travel day and the wine she had consumed before and during dinner. Hopefully a shower would revive her a little for when her man came calling.

Slipping out of her clothes and pinning up her hair, she stepped into the steamy enclave of the walk-in shower.  The jets pounded at her from different angles and worked out the tension in her shoulders and back.  The evening had been surreal to say the least.  To be privy to the inner circle that is Bon Jovi.  Not that she was a part of it, but she had been invited to a little peek at their exclusive boys’ club.  It was more than any fan could have asked for.   She smiled as she slid her soapy puff over her arms and down her legs.  She’d have to email the girls.  They were gonna flip when they found out about this.

Still smiling, she stepped from the shower and wrapped herself in a thick, fluffy towel. Giving her body a cursory rub down, she slicked on her lotion and slid into her pajamas. Pulling the pins from her hair, she retrieved her wine glass from the dresser and headed back to the living room to refill her glass.  Taking her wine to the couch she picked up the remote and turned on the stereo.  While her laptop booted up she flicked through the channels until she found a soft rock station. Humming along with the song she opened her browser.  Google had just popped up when she heard the knock on her door.

Pushing at her glasses she opened the door.  “Hi.”  She stepped back and let him enter her room.  He had stopped in his room and changed his clothes before coming to knock on her door.  His long sleeve black t-shirt had faded to several shades lighter and his jeans were threadbare and loose, hanging low on his hips.  The loafers on his feet looked as soft and worn as a pair of bedroom slippers.  He looked utterly relaxed and totally comfortable.  She had the urge to cuddle right into him.

As if reading her mind, he took her hand and tugged her close, wrapping her in strong, steady arms.  Long fingers brushed her hair away from her face and tipped her chin up.  His mouth came down on hers, kissing her lightly, a teasing taste before going back for a second more thorough dip.

He couldn’t seem to get enough of her sweet mouth.  The tang of the wine on her tongue was as intoxicating to him as if he had been drinking it himself.  Skimming across her cheek he nuzzled into her neck and the headiness of her perfume wrapped around him and he inhaled deeply. “You’ve got to tell me what that is” he murmured as he nipped the sensitive spot by her ear.  It was flowers and a moonlit walk in a midnight wood and her.  She wore different scents, but this one, this is the one that would forever in his mind be her.

Stepping closer, he pressed her back to the door and as her arms wound themselves around him, he continued to ravage her mouth with his.  He had wanted her from the first second that he had known she was just two doors away from him in the hotel.  Watching her with his friends that evening, the way she had enchanted them simply by being just who she was, and that she had come to see him of her own volition, that she hadn’t asked him for a damn thing, she only wanted to be with him for him, not because of who he was or what he could do for her, that skewed the need to the next level.  He was half in love with her and could easily see himself tumbling the rest of the way in short order.  That thought brought him up short and had his lips hesitating over the sweet notch where her shoulder and neck came together.  Whoa.  Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here.  He swirled the tip of his tongue in that delectable dip and slowly eased back.  

He watched her face, waiting for her to open her eyes.  Her cheeks and the line of her jaw showed the slight whisker burn where he had nuzzled against her.  She blinked her eyes open slowly, the green and brown and gold were swirled together in a hazy cloud of lust and arousal. His heart did a slow roll in his chest and he knew he was sunk.  There was no halfway.  He was totally, completely, head over heels for this woman.

She looked up at him with the sloe-eyed look of a woman who had been thoroughly plundered and they hadn’t even made it two steps away from the door.  Holy hell the man knew how to use his mouth for much more delicious activities than singing and speaking and all he had done was kiss her.  She blinked up at him slowly.  Kissed her senseless apparently.  She couldn’t even find a coherent thought in her head let alone try to get one to come out of her mouth.  Her blood was humming, singing and something started to shift inside her, started to bloom.  She pulled back from it, afraid to examine it too closely, sure she wasn’t ready for what she feared the feeling meant.

They reached for each other’s hands at the same time.  With a quiet laugh he brought hers to his lips, “come on sweetheart, let’s get away from the door.”

She followed him into the living room.  She picked up her forgotten wineglass and downed the little bit that was left.  A glance at the bar told her the bottle was empty.  A glance back had her nearly dropping the glass.  He had settled on the couch, his feet were propped on the table and one long finger was beckoning her.

“Come here, baby.”

She shuddered at the deep, husky tone his voice taken on.  She couldn’t help but move to him, her outstretched fingers tangled with his and she let him pull her close.

He dropped his feet from the table and tugged her to stand between his widespread knees. His fingers toyed with the zipper on her sweatshirt.  “Cute pajamas.”   Dragging the zipper down, he nudged the hoodie off her shoulders and nuzzled her belly, inhaling the mystical scent that was all her once again.  He’d never get enough of the way she smelled.

Her cheeks took on the color of her sweatshirt as she looked down at herself.  The pink flannel pants had high-heeled shoes and handbags scattered all over them, the sleep tank she wore was a darker shade of pink and the sweatshirt darker still.  “They’re warm” she managed to mumble. Lifting her head their eyes met and she couldn’t look away.  The normally golden brown was dark, so dark now they were nearly black.  It was a heady feeling to know that she had done that to him.

Keeping her eyes on his and feeling less inhibited than she had in a long time, she climbed on his lap, straddling him like she had before they’d gone to dinner.  Running her hands up his arms, she stroked her fingers across the seam of his shirt where is crossed his shoulder. Breathing deep, she found her voice.  “Muddy Waters’ isn’t going to interrupt us again, is he?”

Checking his surprise that she knew Muddy Waters, Richie shook his head.  “No.”  As if to prove it to her, he fished the phone from his pocket and shut it off, setting it on the end table.

She rolled her hips, rubbing against the hard length of him trapped behind the faded denim. “Good.”

His hands slid up under her top, cupping her breasts, his thumbs teasing her nipples to tiny, hard points.  Taking one into his mouth, he got the beautiful groaning purr he had been longing to hear since the last time he’d heard it.

Dropping her head back, she rolled her hips against him in the same rhythm as his mouth was pulling on her breast.   The orgasm spread through her like wildfire, taking her breath and leaving her undulating wildly against him. 

Gripping her hips, he kept himself pressed firmly against her as she worked her way through her release.  When she opened her eyes again he stood, aiming for the bedroom.  He was ready to blow himself and he wanted to be inside her when he did.

Lowering her gently to the bed he quickly stripped her of her pajamas before adding his own clothes to the pile on the floor.  Protecting them both, he nudged her thighs apart and slipped inside her in one easy thrust.  The perfectness of the way they fit had him pausing, the heat and slickness of her got him moving.  When he felt her start to tighten around him, he let her take him with her up the rise and over into oblivion.

Monday, April 9, 2012

Chapter Forty-Six

Climbing into the car to go back to the hotel, Stephanie was sandwiched between Richie and David.  And the question she had been anticipating and dreading all night finally came.

“So Stephanie” David started, “tell me, who are this Mark and Ben you keep mentioning?”

Richie felt her stiffen against him slightly.  He whispered in her ear, “breathe sweetheart, take it slow.”  He knew it would be difficult for her to talk about them, but the question was out there so she needed to answer it.  He couldn’t and wouldn’t do it for her.

“Mark was my husband.  Ben was our son.”  She spoke quietly and quickly, not offering any details.

David immediately jumped to the wrong conclusion and his gaze shot to his friend’s over Stephanie’s head.  “You’re dating a married woman?  What the hell is wrong with you man?”

Stephanie laid a hand on David’s arm.  “They’re dead David.  They’ve been gone for two years now.”

David’s eyes widened in surprise and he looked over at Richie once more.  “I take back the angry outburst and reserve the right to use it at a later time.”  No sense wasting a good irate outburst.  He was sure to have ample opportunity to use it.  He turned his attention back to the woman on his left.  “I’m sorry, honey.  I didn’t realize.  The big galoot over there hasn’t told us anything about you.  We didn’t even know there was a ‘you’ until tonight.”

Jon cleared his throat and interjected himself into the conversation.  “I knew.  I met her last month.”

David looked from Jon to Rich.  “I knew I should have come to California for that stupid party.”  He looked down at Stephanie, “I miss all the fun.”

Stephanie shook her head at the absurdity of it all.  “Right” she said drawing the word out to about three syllables.  “I don’t believe that for a second.”

Richie leaned in close, “and you shouldn’t.  He’s the biggest liar of the bunch.”

David feigned indignation, “hey, while I may resemble that remark, you’re no Iggy Innocent yourself.  You’ve told your fair share of whoppers over the years my friend.”  

Richie shook his head, “yeah, well, at least I learned when to stop. You, you’re like the damned energizer bunny.  You just keep going and going and going.”

Jon took pity on her being stuck between the two in the band that just didn’t know when to give it a rest.  He patted the seat next to him.  “You wanna come sit over here with us?”

Grateful for the gesture, Stephanie slipped from between David and Riche to sit between Tico and Jon.  “Thanks.”

Tico patted her knee.  “They can be overwhelming to say the least.”

“So I see.”

Jon turned toward her, “since the squabble sisters over there can’t seem to shut up, do you have any pictures of this hot car you drive?”

Stephanie smiled, at ease for the first time that night.  “Sure.”  She dug her phone out and scrolled to her pictures.  “Here.”  She handed him the phone and waited for the reaction.

His low whistle told her he was impressed.  “She’s a beaut.  And you and Mark restored her yourselves?”

She nodded.  “Well, except for putting the engine in.  We had to have a mechanic do that.  We didn’t have the tools for that kind of job.”

He nodded in understanding.  He finished going through the car pictures and was about to hand her back her phone when another picture caught his eye.  “Is this Mark and Ben?”  He touched the screen with his finger and the picture increased in size.  It was a picture of a man and a boy.  The man was sitting on a staircase, the boy behind him leaning over his shoulder.  Both wore happy smiles for the camera.

Stephanie took the phone and stared down at the picture.  “Yes, that’s them.”  It was one of her favorite pictures of them.  She had snapped it herself one day after walking in the door from work.   Mark had beaten her home by a few minutes and he had sat down on the stairs to take his boots off and Ben had come down the stairs and hugged him from behind.  It was one of those moments that she just happened on at exactly the right time.

Lifting her head she looked around.  David and Richie had gone quiet and Tico and Jon wore expectant expressions.  But what they were waiting for-and she knew damn well what they were waiting for- she wasn’t sure she could or even wanted to give them.  She could say that Mark and Ben were dead without breaking down, but talking about the details of who they were and what they meant to her, it was still too hard.  She didn’t want to feel the pain and aching sadness tonight. 

Sensing her discomfort, Richie reached across the space between them and took her hand.  She didn’t have to tell them anything more than what she already had.  He knew the story and it wasn’t anyone else’s business but theirs.  If she wanted to share more, he’d hold her hand be her rock while she did.  But he could also give her an out.  Which he did.

“So sweetheart, you never did tell me, where are your seats for tomorrow and Monday?”

She glanced from their hands to his face, finding only sympathy and understanding there.  He was such a good man.  She gave him a quiet smile of relief and thanks.  “Actually, I’ll be looking at all your asses tomorrow night.  The only tickets left were either up in the rafters or behind the stage.”

Richie made a mental note to look to the back of the stage more than he usually did.  “What about Monday?” 

Her smile grew to a grin and she wiggled in her seat.  She was still in excited disbelief about the ticket she had for Monday night.  “I’ll be in the front row.  First time since 1989.”

Jon groaned. “You remember all the embarrassing shit, don’t you?”

Stephanie laughed, “if you mean the cousin it hair and the lovely spandex you favored, then yeah, I do.”

“Stephanie, honey” David spoke up.  “Why didn’t you just ask Rich here for tickets?  He could have gotten you a better seat for tomorrow night, anyway.”

She turned her witchy green eyes on him.  “I can afford to pay for my own tickets, thank you very much.  Besides,” she turned her eyes back to Richie.  “I wanted to surprise him with my visit.  It wouldn’t have been much of a surprise if I had asked, now would it?”  She never would have in any case.  She had her own money and she would never take advantage of Richie like that.  If there hadn’t been any tickets available, she would have kept checking their schedule until she found a show that had seats left. 

David shook his head and the car stopped in front of the hotel before he could say anything more.